HOn30 Madness

Finding kits that fit micro layouts is probably the hardest part of building micro layouts. Most kits are far too large even when "selectively compressed" from prototypes. Part of the reason why Crooked Crick is dragging on longer than expected is because most of everything has to be scratchbuilt, so drawing plans, and finding parts takes a bit of time. After the 2015 Finescale Model Railroad Expo I picked up this kit from Railroad Kits. At 30 bucks it was a pretty good deal, the only thing I didn't like about it were the printed paper corrugated metal roofing panels. I wanted something with more texture, so I found some laser cut paper shingles I had on the shelf, and used them instead. I don't know where I got them from, at a show somewhere...Kimberton maybe?

I wasn't sure I really wanted a stone station, but it's named after Carl Fallberg, and so is the line of Minitrains American HOn30 locomotives and cars...so it would be wrong of me NOT to use it. Right? Now that I have it mostly together, I'm liking the idea of using it simply to add some different textures to the layout, as most of the structures will be wood, it will be a nice change to have a stone station to break things up a bit and add some visual interest.

Tomorrow is back to the cube farm after a long holiday weekend. I'm not looking forward to it any more than the next guy. It was good to get to the bench and work on something different, an easy kit where I didn't have to think too much about anything other than the repetition of laying strips of shingles, and making a mess of the bench with paints. It's therapeutic. Sometimes designing my own stuff can be just as stressful as work, so taking a break over a holiday after stuffing my face with food, and decorating the house for Christmas by throwing together a little station kit was a very nice change of pace.

A clear blue sky over Crooked Crick with some poofy claudes adding interest.

This weekend was rather productive on Crooked Crick, I was able to get a backdrop installed and painted to a moderate level of detail. It's a 1/4" sheet of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) painted with a base coat of sky blue flat latex house paint. The mountains in the background are painted with craft and artist acrylics, as are the generic "trees". Color matching was done on the mountains by using the same paint as I used on the landforms, a cheap craft tan colored paint. Some highlights and shadows were added by mixing the tan in with white, and raw umber paints.

If you can remember, this area looked like this before:

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Those shelf brackets and white wall really ruin the illusion...

Along with the backdrop, I painted the track with a blast of railroad tie brown, and ballasted. Track detailing will probably be last on my to do list, as I want to get the scenes completely laid out, and the mock up structures constructed and in place. The little cabin on the hill looks too large for my liking, so I will reduce it in size to either 1:100 or 1:120 for forced perspective. I want it to look farther away from the tracks than the 5" it is.

Yes, I know there is a hole there. There is a reason for it. SHHH

The next major hurdle is getting the bridge installed so I can get back to running trains. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. I had to carve out some plaster cloth, sculptamold, and even sand the roadbed a bit in order to get the bridge deck to fit, making a mess everywhere. It cleaned up well though.

More sculptamold to get the "abutments" blended in. No, this probably wouldn't support a bridge, but I'm not here to pick nits...I'm here to build stuff that looks good.

This is where I'm at so far. The bridge deck is just sitting in place, I doubt I'll glue it to the abutments, just in case I ever decide to destroy the layout, or build a different bridge. The rails will be soldered to the ties, keeping everything locked into place.

You can see some rocks toward the back that are a bit out of place color wise...they're glued in place with silicone sealant, and will be stained and painted to match the other rocks. They're going to be "dam" rocks to create pools for waterfalls coming down the crick. Water seems to be everywhere on YouTube right now. Check out this video by Kathy Millatt (it's a long one) on the technique I'll be using to do these little falls. Hers are quite a bit more "rapids" where Crooked Crick will be more of a lazy trickle.

Some of the more observant might be wondering where the crick originates, as it doesn't go through the entire shelf. I'll be taking a cue from Laurie Green's Grizzly Flats layout, and hiding the beginning of the crick under a foot/horse bridge, and some bushes.

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8 cut, 24 more to go...then on to NBWs. Glad it's a SMALL bridge!

When I look at photos of the layout, I have to remind myself that it's a work in progress. I also have to tell myself that I'm not trying to replicate any particular prototype of anything. The last bit is critical to maintain sanity for me. I have a lot of respect for prototype modelers who actually build anything. Trying to replicate a particular item in a particular place, at a particular time is a daunting proposition, and it would literally freeze me from making progress. That's why I like HOn30, because I can do what I want, without the crushing responsibility of getting details exactly right. If that's your thing, good for you, and I'll pray for you. I just want to go build something awesome.

Rails were laid and power applied at about 3:30 pm yesterday. Enjoy the short video I made of the trains tackling the 6" radius curves with no issues. On to the really fun stuff, structures, scenery, details, and more locomotives and rolling stock for the rails!

Earlier this year, I had started on a display layout that was two levels, and just two simple loops of track. I wanted something to let trains do loops on, for the specific purpose of "spreading the gospel" of HOn30, by highlighting the ridiculously tight curves the small locomotives can handle, and to have a place to showcase some Marsh Creek designs and kits. I had dove right into the building of this thing, and I never really had a theme, or any solid ideas of what I wanted it to look like. There were some compromises made, and overall, I wasn't really happy with it. I stuck it up on a shelf, and it sat there for months. A few weeks ago, I dusted it off and cleaned the track, in order to run some locomotives that have sat idle since the early spring. Part of me wanted to finish it, and the other part wanted it to go into the round file, along with many of my other "failures".

I haven't round filed it yet. I say yet, because I want to give it some time, maybe I'll go back to it. Monkeys might also fly out of my butt....but I digress.

As the leaves are changing here in Pennsylvania, I got the itch again, to run trains, and this time with no compromises, so I went a' googling' and visited a site I haven't been to in a while for some inspiration. Laurie Green's website, www.lauriegreensweb.com is full of spectacular On30 designs, and I thought his Grizzly Flats Exhibition Layout would convert rather well to what I was looking to do in HOn30. I could have designed in a traverser, or some other type of hidden staging, but I was limited to the space I had available...a 16"x36" shelf. At 576 square inches, it qualifies for "Micro Layout" status, and I could shoehorn in the small dog bone that Mr. Green used for Grizzly Flats, squeeshed down to 1:87 scale, and a 6" minimum radius. Imitation may be a form of flattery, but in order to not be a copy cat, I decided to Mirror the plan, swapping the sides of where things lay. I can't possibly fit everything in my space the same way he did, so while the idea is blatantly stolen, it's certainly not the same.

Hey, I had a boss who used to say "I may not come up with many good ideas, but I know one when I see it.", and the running joke in Army staff circles is "plagiarism is policy". Thank you Laurie, for coming up with a good idea!

Construction started last weekend, and today I arrived home from work to a package from Fast Tracks with the remaining supplies I needed to get started laying track. Hopefully, I'll be able to run loops this weekend. While I was waiting for rail and ties, I downloaded the texture pack from Clever Models to build some snazzy mock up buildings. It could take a while for me to get all the structures built and detailed, so I'm adding the mock up step for this build. It's critical when working in cramped confines to have a really good plan of action for structures and scenery, and mock ups really help that along. Instead of plain versions, I wanted to have nice looking mock structures to really get a sense of how the scene is going to look, so the printed texture papers will help that a lot.

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The basic benchwork.

Mock ups, still need to finish these, and build up a couple more.

Track gang is hard at work.

I'm going to leave it at this, because I have a drink calling my name, and I have to save my energy for the golden spike ceremony later this weekend!

The MDT project has sat idle for a couple of weeks, so today I decided to start the weathering and detailing process. I tend to avoid the over-use of weathering powders, and opt for paints when it comes to this type of work. So far, I have painted the interior "interior green", and it made a huge difference in the brightness of the model. Because Shapeways detail acrylics are semi translucent, and yellow paints are as well, the combination made for a pleasant change. Instead of a bright lemon yellow, the model is much more muted, and looks much more like the industrial yellow we're used to seeing.

Chipping has been started with Tamiya Red Brown, and I've got some more pin washes to apply, as well as painting the undersides of the louvers. Once the body is done, I'll move on to the chassis.

I'm expecting the "brick box" to arrive in a few days, so it's best to get caught up with this one, and I'll soon be ordering the test prints of the PUP, so I had best get back after it!

My good friend Katsumi Yamamoto is a collector of all small things HOn30, and took this video of a Japanese product from Imon Models which is a new replacement chassis kit for the old Joe Works/ Miniland HOn30 locomotives. As you can see, it's running with a Super Capacitor fitted, but that only affects the current going to the motor. The chassis appears to be a very smooth runner.

​I ordered one of these from Toma Model Works in Japan to test out as an inexpensive chassis to build some dinkies on. At the moment, I'm fighting with worm placement, because a tenth of a millimeter is a big deal when getting gear trains running. So far, I have not had to use any special tools or skills to assemble the chassis, which at $60 shipped from Toma in Japan, is a pretty good deal.

Wouldn't it be something to see a return of something like a Joe Works Porter?

Getting very close to completion on the 301 Boose. Still to do: add grabs on the roof, touch up painting, decals and weathering.

I always find that the end of a project is extremely destructive to my workbench, so sometimes I put things off until I have the motivation to clean it off after I'm done, otherwise I avoid the bench for days afterword.

There has been some interest in the parts for this build, and chances are I will make them available in an extremely limited quantity, and then it will be by pre-order only. I can order the parts in any quantity, but I don't want to have a stack of cut wood being worked around, so if you know someone that is interested, shoot me a note and we can talk about it.

Some of my trucks arrived from Shapeways today, 3 different sets, all with brake details, so I decided that I should work some more on the boose. I'll have to install the glass, and then the roof, apply weathering, and she'll be all done.

I'm really happy with the way the trucks are coming out. They roll free, and there aren't any better detailed out there in HOn30. Yeah, I'm biased, but I think the photos speak for themselves!

The unofficial end of summer is here, and with the long weekend, I'm taking the opportunity to clean off the workbench from shipping material, and paints from Armor models I have worked on over the summer. Now that I have the proper trucks, I figured it was a good time to work on WW&F caboose 301 that I drew in AutoCAD, and had custom laser cut. The first model has a couple issues, but I have been able to correct them. Once this is done, I'll get back to work on other stalled projects. I've got a long list!

It's fall! (Sort of) time to get back to the bench and build something awesome!